Copy a blank version to use. Remember to use the "|" (pipe) character between each field. Please delete any unused fields to avoid clutter in the edit window.

No templates or magic words are necessary when using an ISBN, OCLC number, or DOI as an identifier. Instead of using the id field in these instances, simply use the appropriate field. For instance, type isbn= followed by the number instead of id=ISBN. Templates are available for other identification number types to be used in the ID field ({{ISSN}}, {{LCCN}}, {{LCC}}, etc.) if these aren't available. See also the complete description of fields.

Full version (copy and paste text below and delete parameters you don't need)

The `last' and `first' fields are poorly named for the case of an author whose surname is usually written first (e.g. as in Chinese). They also have the problem of only communicating which is the surname, not communicating where the surname is usually written. Consider deprecating first,last fields, and reinstating author field, using the notation "Smith, John" or "Hu Ke Jie" as appropriate (i.e. always writing surname first, and using comma or not depending on whether the name is usually written surname last or first).

authorlink: Title of Wikipedia article about author. Article should already exist. Must not be wikilinked itself. Do not use this on its own, but along with "author" or "first" and "last".

Whether the surname of the co-authors goes first or last is dependent on the citation style (see the citation style section below) preferred.

OR: author: Full name of author, preferably surname first. (deprecated)

OR: for multiple authors, use the fields first1, last1, ...,firstn, lastn to 'correctly' record all the information about the book (the first nine authors are printed, then et al. is appended if even more authors were specified). There are corresponding authorlink1, ..., authorlink9 fields as well. This usage is preferred to the use of coauthors.

editor: Name of editor/editors. Do not Wikilink any values in the editor field but use "editor-link" instead. The template automatically adds "ed." after the editor's name unless the "chapter" parameter is used in which case the template adds "in" before the editor's name which appears after the chapter and before the title.

OR: alternatively editor-first and editor-last can be used.

OR: for multiple editors up to four in number, use the fields editor1-first, editor1-last, ...,editorn-first, editorn-last to 'correctly' record all the information about the book.

editor-link or editor1-link...editorn-link is used in the same way as "authorlink".

The "editor" field and its alternates should only be used when the cited author(s) and the book editor(s) are different. If the whole book is cited, instead of a specific part, use the "author" fields (possibly with extra "(ed.)" instead)

others: To record other contributors to the work, such as "illustrated by Smith" or "trans. Smith".

title: Title of book. This is the only required parameter. Can be wikilinked only to an existing Wikipedia article. Do not use italics.

url: URL of an online location where the book can be found. Cannot be used if you wikilinked title. If applicable, can point to the specific page(s) referenced.

format: Format, e.g. PDF. HTML implied if not specified.

accessdate: Full date when url was accessed. Required when url field is used. Must not be wikilinked.

edition: When the book has more than one edition. e.g.: "2nd.", "Revised" etc.. Note that the template automatically displays " ed." after this field, so edition=2nd produces "2nd ed.".

series: When the book is part of a series of publications

volume: For one book published in several volumes. However, this template displays the text in this field in bold type after the "title" and "series" parameters. An alternative is to include the volume information in the "title" field after the main title (see example below). (NB: there is a separate {{Cite encyclopedia}} template).

date: Full date of publication edition being referenced, in the same format as the main text of the article. Must not be wikilinked.

OR: year: Year of publication edition being referenced, and month: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, use date instead. Must not be wikilinked.

origyear: Original publication year, for display alongside the date or year. For clarity, please specify as much information as possible, for instance "First published 1859" or "Composed 1904". This parameter only displays if a there is a value for "year" or "date".

publisher: Publisher should not include corporate designation such as "Ltd" or "Inc".

location: Geographical place of publication.

language: The language the book is written in, if it is not English. The template automatically puts parentheses around the text and adds "in" before the language name.

id: A unique identifier, used if none of the above are applicable. In this case, you need to specify the kind of identifier you are using, preferably with a template like {{ASIN}} or {{ISSN}}. (Use one of the more specialized parameters if possible; they are linked automatically. In other words, don't use id = ISBN 1-111-22222-9 anymore. Use isbn = 1-111-22222-9.)

pages or page: "|pages= 5–7" produces pp. 5–7, while "|page= 5" produces p. 5. The "pp." notation indicating multiple pages, and "p." notation indicating a single page, are placed automatically when you choose between the plural (pages) or singular (page) form of the parameter. These parameters are for listing the pages relevant to the citation, not the total number of pages in the book.

nopp: using "page" or "pages", automatically places the p. or pp. notations. If this is inappropriate—for instance, if page=Front cover, placing any value after nopp will hide the p. or pp. notation.

chapter (= contribution): The chapter of the book, written in full. Punctuation other than quotes should be included in the value passed to the parameter, e.g. chapter = Meet Dick and Jane. produces "Meet Dick and Jane." ahead of title.

chapterurl: URL of an individual chapter of online book. Should be at the same site as url, if any.

As mentioned, the bibliographical data of the cited source can be “tagged” by an identifier: this enables the system to “find” the target of the wikilinks. This “tagging” with an identifier can be done by enclosing between <cite id=…>…</cite> tags, but this tool can be superfluous if the bibliographical data are provided with a citation template: the ref field of the chosen citation template must be set to the same name.

Attention must be paid: not all other citation templates support this. In such cases, the service can be achieved also by enclosing the concerned bibliographical item inside <cite id=…>…</cite> tags: also this way, it can feature as a target of Wikilinks to full references. The id attribute of the tag must be set to the same name what we would give to the (lacking) ref field of the citation template.